Designing The New American University Summary

Book Review

Book Title: Designing the New American University

Publisher: John Hopkins University Press

Author: Michael M. Crow and co-author William B. Dabars

Year Published: 2015

About the Author: Michael M. Crow and William B. Dabars

Michael M. Crow is the 16th President of Arizona State University (ASU). He is an academic leader and educator, designer of knowledge enterprises, and a science and technology scholar. Previously, Crow had worked for more than 10 years at Colombia University, which is one of the prestigious universities in the world, as a professor of science and technology policy. He is guiding the transformation of ASU into one of the nation’s leading public metropolitan research universities, an institution that combines the

The authors of the book argue that a lot of American universities are becoming internationally famous; however, these universities socially are not accessible for all our social classes. Prestigious American universities like Harvard, Colombia, MIT, Stanford, and others have succeeded in developing new programs of study which maintain their high academic rankings, but a big question is whether these programs serve the majority of Americans or only an exclusive elite. Crow advocates that nowadays top universities should not only be concerned about their high-status but also they should be concerned about all social classes’ accessibility to universities. The authors considered Arizona State University as a new prototype for the New American

However, if the government cuts financial support for universities in the twenty first century, their research departments may suffer, and they may not provide students with four years degrees. Crow and Dabars write that “Public investment in high education during the twentieth century produced a level of education attainment unmatched anywhere in the world. Accessibility to our nation’s colleges and universities served as a springboard to intergenerational economic mobility and a catalyst to innovation, which in turn brought prosperity to a broad middle class.” Here, the author argues that, in the twentieth century colleges and universities used to get government support, and the support made accessible that higher education for all social classes. Since state funding has gradually declined, it has become more difficult for lower income students to get high education. Considering funding problems of high education, Crow argues that The New Model of American University is the decisive factor to resolve these problems, and it serves for the well-being of our country because there are benefits from the university’s research. However, even though government funding decreased for the university, ASU did not cut four year degrees. In addition, the university even decreased amount of the tuition from $65000 to $16000 within the last thirteen years.